Considering the long working relationship they've had with EA Sports, it's not really surprising that they're giving them some rope and letting them take their time. With the Jam brand, they obviously have other ways of making use of the license and the league is probably happy with that.

Here's hoping they can make that strong comeback next year. Taking the rest of this console generation off is an interesting suggestion but my guess is that they will return next year with NBA Live 14, or at least that's the goal they have in mind right now.

Andrew wrote:However, if it is just essentially a roster update with slightly enhanced graphics and NBA Live 13 does make the strong comeback I believe it's at least capable of doing, then 2K will probably at least lose some ground and a decent amount of fans.

Andrew wrote:It may end up being the game I personally prefer playing and make up a lot of ground on 2K, but it's a tall order for it to become the dominant brand right away. It needs to make a strong comeback this year first.

Andrew wrote:They did recently extend their licensing agreement with the NBA though, so they'll likely be making NBA games for years to come. Next year could be their last good shot at salvaging the franchise and making an impressive comeback, though.

SoF'nAwesome wrote:But you do realize that 2k14 would be like mind-blowingly awesome compared to NBA Live 14? Also, it's most likely it will get cancelled again due to pressure.

Well, I guess you can never say never after what happened with NBA Live 13, but at this point I'd say surely not again. Surely. At least this time they'll actually have extra time to work on the game, which they apparently didn't in between NBA Elite 11's cancellation, the move to EA Tiburon and putting the new team together.

NBA 2K14 meanwhile should be another high quality game, though it's probably going to have some really sloppy bugs and issues, some of which have been present for two or three years running. That's certainly the case with NBA 2K13, which I do like so far but has a few things that I know NBA Live would be raked over the coals for (and rightfully so), things that don't gel with the high review scores. They're way ahead of Live, obviously, but I don't know that they can actually slam the door shut on them.

Andrew, I get what you are saying about 'zee 2k bugs and yes, they should prioritize on those but if you check out any of these sports series games(like FIFA), all they do is improve the gameplay a tad much each year. Huge improvement/change comes along in 2-3 years in between. But I think unless Live is being made for PC, it's a lost cause. Because it's all just not worth it.

justfixit wrote:I find it funny how people say game X has "all these bugs", but they can't name them. They talk as if game Y doesn't have their own litany of bugs. So why even talk that mess?

Are you talking about NBA 2K13? Because so far I feel we have done a fairly good job of identifying key problems we've come across. I do agree with what you're saying, my point was just that there are still issues with NBA 2K - not just bugs but other criticisms and complaints - that are preventing them from slamming the door shut on NBA Live. As far ahead as they are, there's still room for a second game, which is fortunate for EA after what's happened the past few years.

SoF'nAwesome wrote:Andrew, I get what you are saying about 'zee 2k bugs and yes, they should prioritize on those but if you check out any of these sports series games(like FIFA), all they do is improve the gameplay a tad much each year. Huge improvement/change comes along in 2-3 years in between. But I think unless Live is being made for PC, it's a lost cause. Because it's all just not worth it.

Absolutely. In fact, I'd say major, major improvements probably aren't going to come along until we're a year or two into the next generation of consoles, when they've got that superior tech to work with and have figured out the best way to put it to use.

justfixit wrote:I find it funny how people say game X has "all these bugs", but they can't name them. They talk as if game Y doesn't have their own litany of bugs. So why even talk that mess?

Are you talking about NBA 2K13? Because so far I feel we have done a fairly good job of identifying key problems we've come across. I do agree with what you're saying, my point was just that there are still issues with NBA 2K - not just bugs but other criticisms and complaints - that are preventing them from slamming the door shut on NBA Live. As far ahead as they are, there's still room for a second game, which is fortunate for EA after what's happened the past few...

Now hold on. No game will ever be free of bugs and design decisions that people don't like. But, I'm asking, where are these "key" bugs? Which one of these bugs leaves the door open of Live? Frankly, if the premise is that the game needs to be perfect to shut out competitors, then that's an impossible task. At the end of the day, you'll have a hard time finding a bug in the game that says, "this is why I'm going to go play the other game" without some serious amount of hyperbole.

Well, the biggest issue for 2K in recent years has probably been online stability. It seems to be better this year - for most people anyway, I personally haven't had any luck getting online with the PC version as yet - but that is an area that EA has been better at, which is perhaps the biggest thing keeping their foot in the door at this time.

I'm not suggesting that a game has to be absolutely, 100% perfect and bug free to eliminate competition, but for all the great stuff that 2K has brought to the table, it hasn't seemed to please everyone. There are even folks that have suggested 2K has been going downhill since NBA 2K10/2K11 and that NBA 2K12 and NBA 2K13 are awful, which I just don't see or agree with at all, but they're obviously doing things that a portion of the fanbase aren't happy with. There's still room for competition, an alternative, which is fortunate for EA given the product that 2K has put out the last few years (which I for one hold in very high regard) and the fact that EA hasn't released a sim-oriented title since 2009.

If EA releases a PC version, all they have to do is release the entire game and they'd take a chunk of sales from 2k. The bug that made the game impossible to install was presumably a bit of an issue, too.

EA Sports is committed to basketball and we will publish a basketball game when we can match the quality of franchises like Madden NFL, NHL Hockey, Tiger Woods PGA Tour and FIFA soccer," EA labels president Frank Gibeau added.

22cedric wrote:EA Sports is committed to basketball and we will publish a basketball game when we can match the quality of franchises like Madden NFL, NHL Hockey, Tiger Woods PGA Tour and FIFA soccer," EA labels president Frank Gibeau added.

yeah, dont believe that for a second, EA is committed to making money, thats about it....

Well, making money is vital for any business. To make money they need to put out a product that people want to buy, so it kind of goes hand in hand. I'm sure the development team itself is keen to put out a good game; after all, that's their job and their passion.